Richard + Smith + blogging = rsmithing

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And would you mind letting me know?

Tap… tap… tap… this thing on? Hello?

I used to be much more prolific on this blog! Shame on me for not posting more often, I suppose, but if you’re one of the elite folks reading this now, could you let me know with a like or a comment, please? I’d appreciate knowing this goes somewhere… maybe? Thank you! 🙂

So where have I been?

When I started posting a few years ago, it was to educate myself on the nuances of WordPress and blogging, which I feel like I accomplished to the degree I was after. Then I got into my art site (RSMITHINGS.com), which has become my primary creative outlet, even creeping into this blog with posts about what goes into my art and the occasional exhibition. Add to that the fun but demanding task of raising a toddler, and well… you get the picture.

Many posts over here still get regular activity, like the one on Cheap Trick and the occasional blogging writeup, and there will remain forever those I’m especially proud of for connecting with authors (like Alexis Madrigal, Neil Strauss, or Jon Ronson). There’s just now a bit more time between them (more like a lot, but hey). Nevertheless, I’ll keep this thing going.

So anyway, thanks for reading, and know that I’d love to hear you’re out there.

Like this:

Best Buy Distressed: illustrating a less rosy, more hazy future. Created with Hipstamatic. Free for your use with attribution. Click to Download Hi-res at Flickr.

At Forbes.com this week, Larry Downes expands thoughtfully on “Why Best Buy is Going out of Business…Gradually.” Among other salient points, Downes slices and dices the following corporatespeak issued to some about-to-be-very-disappointed customers (you know, those who keep the company in business):

“Due to overwhelming demand of hot product offerings on BestBuy.com during the November and December time period, we have encountered a situation that has affected redemption of some of our customers’ online orders.”

Let’s parse that sentence for a moment. The company “encountered a situation”—that is, it was a passive victim of an external problem it couldn’t control, in this case, customers daring to order products it acknowledges were “hot” buys. This happened, inconveniently for Best Buy, during “the November and December period,” that is, the only months that matter to a retailer. For obvious reasons, the statement ties itself in knots trying to avoid mentioning that the “situation” occurred during the holidays.

Ugh. I can see Best Buy’s directors from marketing, legal and fulfilment all in a conference room drafting that missive, the poor souls. I don’t envy them, and I will not get on some high horse about how this kind of bad news could be better delivered — because it’s so obvious, as Downes rightfully notes. He continues:

The situation that Best Buy “encountered” has “affected redemption” of some orders. Best Buy doesn’t fill online orders, it seems. Rather, customers “redeem” them. So it’s the customers, not Best Buy, who have the problem. And those customers haven’t been left hanging; they’ve only been “affected” in efforts to “redeem” their orders. It’s not as if the company did anything wrong, or, indeed, anything at all. — Larry Downes, for Forbes

YIKES. So does Best Buy Even Apologize?

To Best Buy’s credit, they did apologize later in the same communication. Yet I can’t help but slap my forehead and wonder what could have happened If only they were more direct, maybe even going out of their way to make things right (free $20 gift cards, store credit, etc.) — they could even have turned this into a PR win… instead of something bloggers are writing about weeks later as a burgeoning harbinger of disaster.

Though I’m not sure I agree with Downes on Best Buy going the way of Circuit City in the immediate future, it certainly does not look rosy for them at present. And I’m not even talking about their finances. I’ve had great service and lousy service there, but the culture hinted at by this kind of language does not sound like that of an organization built to last.

At least, if it doesn’t want things like this written about it in Forbes.

And in blogs.

What’s your Best Buy experience been? Have you ever had an online order cancelled on you, and if so, what happened? Do you think the company is spiraling toward the drainhole? Let us hear from you in the comments.